U.S. Pat. No. 8,036,088, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses an optical tape drive system including a rotatable tape planarizer support structure that supports an optical tape planarizer. The support structure is rotatable between an operational position and a non-operational position. In the operational position, the support structure is configured to position the optical tape planarizer to permit reading/writing of information from/to an optical tape via an optical pickup unit. In the non-operational position, the support structure is configured to position the optical tape planarizer to permit passage of a tape leader through the tape drive system without damage to the optical pickup unit.